ozone
by shadowinthedark13
Summary: Thalia is a coward.


**Title: **ozone

**Rating/Warnings: **T

**Word Count: **1,093

**Pairing(s):** Thalia/Luke

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

* * *

Thalia wakes up and it is dark.

Luke breathes softly beside her, stretched out across the stained mattress they'd dragged from an alley. He huffs and snorts and stretches long limbs over her shins but Thalia just breathes.

Annabeth is on his other side, curled tightly against him. Her blonde hair looks more brown than blonde with the grease and grit and her small fist tightens around the dagger Luke had given her.

If they don't make it to the Camp Luke's father had mentioned, Thalia thinks it'll be all right. They're strong like this, albeit exhausted. With a bit of money lifted from a rich woman's purse and a cheap motel, they could be back on their feet in no time. They won't need the gods or anyone else. They`ll have each other and Thalia knows within her heart that this is enough for her.

Luke pinches the skin of her side and she casts her eyes down at him. "I had that dream again," he whispers, pulling her back down. "He told me you'll die."

"I won't die, not with you and Annabeth watching my back."

"I know," Luke tells her, inhaling, nose resting against her temple. "I know."

(She doesn't know if he's reassuring her or himself, but it doesn't matter in the end.

Everyone dies eventually.)

* * *

She feels the bark breaking, the knife sliding into her trunk. If she were human, this would be her heart that's been stabbed. Thalia thinks Luke knows that.

He whispers to her, mouth pressed against her, tears darkening the bark. She feels sick already, and needles fall from her branch. _Why_ she wants to ask. _How_ she needs to know.

Luke breathes against her, and she absorbs his scent. Fresh air and caramel and something else. Something sick.

* * *

She finds out that her mother has died on a Thursday. Thalia doesn't know if she should be angry or sad or happy, so she doesn't react and it stops hurting.

* * *

There is no question. No if, and, or but. There is only Artemis, with her cool silver eyes that remind Thalia of the necklaces her mother wore once when she was beautiful and something like a hero. There is no weight of a prophecy, or pain of Luke's betrayal.

Artemis touches her face and the girls around them glow beautifully, eyes carefully blank and innocent and Thalia hopes this is the right decision.

* * *

Jason is so beautiful that Thalia hates him.

He looks nothing like their mother, unlike her, who is the spitting image, people say. He looks like their father, strong and powerful and full of something amazing.

She wishes she were more than just this, sometimes.

* * *

They say that the likelihood of survival is zero to none but it's Percy and Annabeth, so the odds have to change. They couldn't have made it so far only to fail.

Still, Thalia takes a leave from the Hunters for a few days and she searches with Nico diAngelo for those doors. Searches until her heart aches and her feet are raw and then keeps going.

* * *

Thalia hears Luke's voice, sees his face in her dreams, and it kills her.

It kills her because it isn't Kronos or the boy from the mountain that day. It's Luke from Illinois and Luke from Detroit and Luke from before camp. It's the boy she loved.

* * *

This is something nobody tells you: immortality sucks you dry, leaves you withered and hollow. Immortality is a death sentence all in itself. You don't die but everyone around you does. A manticore's claws tear out Helena's stomach and Artemis puts her among the stars. Percy and Annabeth are gone for a year in counting, and nobody does anything.

Immortality is a spoon. No matter how many times you poke yourself, it doesn't do enough damage. Just bruises.

This is what I deserve, she thinks.

* * *

She doesn't kill herself but she might as well have.

(Something else: Thalia is not brave.)

* * *

Piper McLean screams once; yells for the stone man to stop, but it doesn't work. Thalia moves quicker than she can think and is in front of Piper in seconds.

The sword plunges into her stomach, up under her ribs. Thankfully, Thalia manages to take half the thing's head off, and the sword falls out of her achingly slow, the battle around them blurring. She thinks there is something gold near the top of the hill. _Annabeth,_ she hopes.

Hands touch her, press hard and sharp over the gaping _hole_ in her torso. She doesn't die quickly. No, that would be easy, that would be like before and you never die the same twice.

Death is familiar, comforting. Thalia liked being dead after a while. "Did they make it?" She hopes the words come out properly, hopes that they understand.

People are still fighting, but Piper pushes Thalia's hair away from her eyes with such care that Thalia's heart surges in her chest. She is glad Jason has this girl. "I can see them, they're here."

Thalia grunts, dies.

* * *

She never thought about it, but Thalia knows she doesn't need to live three more lives. Three people she doesn't know stand before her at the Judgement pavilion, and they smile, mutter the words _Elysium. _

* * *

"I'm so sorry," he breathes when he sees her, face beautiful and marred and Thalia nods, shrugs. "I was a coward," he tells her, shaking. "And I understand if you hate me. I just needed to say that I was sorry."

Thalia nods, attempts to shove her hands into her pockets, but the Silena girl had shoved the dress into her hands and the glint in her eyes meant business. She settles for letting them hang at her side. "I'm a coward too, so." She offers him a smile. "I'll be seeing you."

"Yeah," Luke returns the smile, watches her go. "See you."

* * *

It isn't okay for a long time, but this kind of immortality, this eternity? Thalia can handle this.

She _will._


End file.
